Andrew Schmidt, MD was recently named Chief of Orthopedics at Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC). Dr. Schmidt graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. He attended medical school at the University of California at San Diego and completed his residency in Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Oregon Health Sciences in 1993.

After completing a Fellowship in Total Joint Replacement at HCMC, Dr. Schmidt joined the HCMC faculty. He is also a Professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School, a past-President of the Orthopedic Trauma Association, and is an internationally known academician and educator. Dr. Schmidt is Co-Editor of the text “Surgical Treatment of Orthopedic Trauma,” winner of the 2007 “Excellence in Clinical Medicine” award by the Association of American Publishers.

Dr. Andrew Schmidt

Dr. Schmidt is also a leading researcher in musculoskeletal trauma and its complications. He leads HCMC’s participation in a research partnership sponsored by the Department of Defense that brings many civilian trauma centers together to work with military surgeons to study battlefield injuries and improve care for injured military personnel. The results of this important research is also applied to improve treatment of civilian trauma.

Hennepin County Medical Center is a Level I Adult and Level I Pediatric Trauma Center and public teaching hospital located in downtown Minneapolis. The centerpiece of Hennepin County’s clinical health services, Hennepin County Medical Center offers a full spectrum of inpatient and outpatient orthopedic services, where ongoing, nationally recognized orthopedic research is conducted at the Ramon B. Gustilo Center for Medical Education and Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation.

As Dr. Andrew Schmidt, President of the Orthopedic Trauma Association (OTA) prepares to leave for Boston to attend a previously scheduled OTA meeting, his thoughts are with the victims who were injured from the April 15 explosions — as well as the trauma surgeons at Boston’s hospitals who are caring for them. Accounts indicate that improvised explosive devices (IEDs) caused the devastating blasts, because surgeons report that they were removing shrapnel, ball bearings, and other metallic material from the limbs of their patients. Continue reading →

Orthopaedic trauma surgeons Drs. Andrew Schmidt and David Templeman were both included in Orthopedics This Week’s recent list of the Top 29 Orthopedic Traumatologists in the United States. This list was obtained through a telephone survey of thought leaders in the field. They were the only orthopaedic trauma surgeons from Minnesota to make the list.

Dr. Andrew Schmidt

Dr. David Templeman

“He is an all around traumatologist, but does especially good work around the shoul­der and knee,” said one of those surveyed about Dr. Andrew Schmidt. “He has great leadership and organizational skills.”

About Dr. Templeman, a surveyor heard: “He has a good old fashioned way of training fellows so that they learn the importance of surgical planning.”

Dr. Schmidt is president-elect of the Orthopedic Trauma Association (OTA) and Dr. Templeman is a past president of the OTA. Both are also professors of orthopaedic surgery at the University of Minnesota.